Bladder cancer can include a number of types of malignancy arising from the epithelial lining of the urinary bladder. A number of different symptoms can indicate the presence of bladder cancer, including blood in the urine, abdominal pain, urinary frequency, and painful urination, along with a number of other symptoms. If bladder cancer is suspected to be the cause of the patient's symptoms, additional steps to confirm the presence of cancer will typically be performed by a urologist or another physician that is trained in diagnosing bladder cancer.
A number of different medical procedures and tests can be used to diagnose the presence of bladder cancer in a patient, and to determine the precise location(s) of cancerous lesions and the severity of the cancer. Clinical trials have shown that photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) improves the ability to detect certain types of bladder cancer, which procedurally involves the use of fluorescence to locate abnormal tissue. PDD can be particularly effective in detecting cancers that include the presence of flat, urothelial, high-risk lesions. PDD involves instillation with a PDD agent such as hexylaminolevulinate, which can be referred to as “Hexvix” and which is commercially available under the trade name “Cysview”. Hexvix induces the production of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in the bladder, wherein greater amounts of PpIX will build up in precancerous and cancerous lesions than in normal tissue, such that excitation of these lesions with blue light will produce different PpIX fluorescence than areas that do not include the precancerous or cancerous lesions. Thus, PDD requires a light source that provides such an excitation, along with specific lenses that enhance the contrast in fluorescence between benign and malignant tissue.
After a patient has been diagnosed with bladder cancer, either through the use of PDD or other diagnostic procedures, a treatment plan is typically developed, which may include surgical procedures, chemotherapy, and/or other approaches that are pursued at a later date from that of the diagnosis. Thus, there is a need to provide devices and methods that provide for accurate and timely diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer in order to maximize the chances for the patient to achieve a full recovery.